Responsibility goes both ways

Jeff Walker
Published: August 12, 2008

Have you heard about the troubled skatepark? Talk of graffiti, damage and possibly even illegal activity has brought criticism from town leaders and the possibility of closing the skating section of the park.

The park in question is not necessarily the one you think. Culpeper is not the only town with a skatepark that has raised concerns.

Roanoke City’s little neighbor, the town of Vinton, takes up 3.17 square miles between the Roanoke River and the Blue Ridge Parkway. The population is 7,782, according the last census.

Gearhart Park in Vinton was a bit of a problem. The old tennis courts were an eye-sore. A group of concerned parents and proactive teens approached the Vinton Town Council a few years ago and proposed a solution that would help the town’s park and give something for the youth to do.

Starting in 2002, Youth on Wheels organized a grassroots effort to fundraise and help plan a skatepark for the town to be located in Gearhart’s old tennis court area. They raised $10,000 to help pay for the cleanup and construction and in 2003 the Gearhart Skate Park opened. They built it and the skaters came.

And so did the vandals.

No one quite knows who the Vinton vandals are, but since the opening in 2003, the damage got worse, and so did the talk of bad language and even drug use. (Sound familiar?)

Vinton Town Council raised concerns several times and the police increased patrols. Public works repaired damage, reinstalled fences and replaced water fountains.

By this summer the problems were only increasing, so the news hit the streets: Vinton Town Council would close the park by the end of July.

Before the proposed closing, the five-member council held a public meeting to discuss solutions with the public, including some of the skaters. As reported in the Roanoke Times and on the regional television news stations, about a dozen teens and parents spoke in the Vinton council chambers at a meeting July 14.

“We need the park,” said Deon Morgan, one of the skaters. Parent Kyle Inman said, “There are problems, but there are also solutions.”

Vinton council member Billy Obenchain focused on the bad location of the park. “Where that skate park is, is wrong, it’s wrong for everyone that goes down there, other than the people who go down there for illegal activity.”

Most of the Vinton Town Council, including Mayor Brad Grose, believe in the importance of Gearhart Park but are concerned about the isolated location.

The matter of personal responsibility was also a matter of discussion.

Vinton council member Carolyn Fidler proposed to provisionally keep the park open if there could be assistance in maintaining it. She asked that the users and parents help police the skate park to assist the local authorities. Mayor Grose supported Fidler’s proposal and added that the status of the park needed to be reported monthly.

So in Vinton, both the town leaders and the park users are taking responsibility for the success of the skate park, even if they end up relocating the park.

Here in Culpeper, we do not have the same issue of location, location, location.

The Yowell Meadow Park skating area is not isolated. But the same kind of concerns are cropping up.

Perhaps the best lessons we can learn from Vinton’s predicament are that Culpeper’s Town Council could open up more of a dialogue with park users and community members.

And perhaps some of the skaters could take time out from the ramps and discuss what they could do to keep the park fun, safe and positive.

Responsibility goes both ways.

Jeff Walker is an independent columnist who lives in Culpeper. He appears Wednesdays in the Star-Exponent. E-mail